Modern News

Across the Midwest, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is spending buckets of its members’ dues money to build up the union’s political muscle. In Chicago, it looks like they’re trying to resurrect the city’s political machine. With 50 seats and a weak mayoral office, the City Council enjoys considerable power, something SEIU leaders would love to get their hands on. As the Chicago Sun-Times reported on August 3:

The Illinois Council of the Service Employees International Union has held three day-long training workshops for 500 potential candidates and community leaders. SEIU is committed to spending as much as $2 million to elect aldermen to better represent working people. The union is committing its organizers and hopes to engage the 250,000 people it represents in the alderman elections next February.

If averaged out, SEIU is preparing as many as ten candidates per election, with $40,000 to spend on each seat. Nearby in Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on August 6 that “[i]n its contribution to statewide Democratic candidates this year, the SEIU has been distributing $10,000 checks like a nurse handing out aspirin.” At the same time, SEIU has been spending money throughout the Buckeye State trying to turn public opinion against hospitals to soften them up for unionization, including $329,000 spent trying to get an initiative passed in just one town:

“We do think we need to be a larger organization,” [Ohio SEIU President Dave Regan] said. “Nobody criticizes Bill Gates at Microsoft when he wants to get a bigger market share.”

The difference, according to Bill Harding, a board member with the Ohio Hospital Association: “Bill Gates grows because he adds value to the marketplace. So far we haven’t seen anything but destructive behavior.”

SOURCE: UnionFacts.com, 8/11/06